Through the dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP), a network device or client may discover the existence of a bootserver (also known as a bootstrap server) for use in its bootstrap configuration processes. One portion of IETF-RFC 2131 includes the following description: “DHCP clarifies the interpretation of the ‘siaddr’ field as the address of the server to use in the next step of the client's bootstrap process. A DHCP server may return its own address in the ‘siaddr’ field, if the server is prepared to supply the next bootstrap service (e.g., delivery of an operating system executable image). A DHCP server always returns its own address in the server identifier “option.”
Commonly, there are instances where the “next” bootserver is added to a network (e.g., a home network) where there is no possibility for the end user to modify the behavior of the DHCP server. This may be because the DHCP server is in the service provider network or is integrated within the residential gateway/router without any access to configurable advanced options, or because it is undesirable or impractical to permit a user to modify the DHCP server behavior. Therefore, there remains a need for providing bootstrap information to a network device without modifying the existing network host or DHCP server.